UnitedHealthcare sweeps podium in Brady Arts District

UnitedHealthcare kicked things up a notch during the second day at Tulsa Tough, sweeping the men's podium of the Brady Arts District criterium with Luke Keough taking the win, Ken Hanson in second and Hilton Clarke in third. The women also improved their results with a one-two finish, placing Hannah Barnes on the podium's top step for the second day in a row, while Coryn Rivera moved up to second place ahead of Erica Allar (Colavita-Fine Cooking).

Men

The 80-minute men's race was marred by three major crashes in the final 15 laps that sent more than half the peloton into the pits at least once. Daniel Holloway, who finished third on the first day of the three-day omnium, crashed in the finishing straight of the final lap and eventually crossed the line on foot.

The men's race was fast and aggressive, but the repeated escape attempts didn't amount to much until a group of five riders sneaked away late in the race. Colton Barrett (Athlete Octane), Matt Stephens (Bonshaker), Brett Crosby (Giant On-Road Team), Drew Christopher (Champion System-Stans) and Frank Travieso (UnitedHealthcare of Georgia) got away with 17 laps remaining and built an ultimate gap of about 15 seconds before UHC started chasing them down.

UnitedHealthcare's well-oiled "Blue Train" timed the chase to perfection, bringing the leaders back with two laps remaining and then setting up on the front to lead-out Keough and Hanson, who had won the previous day's race.

Holloway attacked leading into the final corner and had a slight gap before the UHC riders tracked him down. The Athlete Octane rider torqued his bike hard to make up ground, eventually swinging left into Hanson and going down hard as Keough, Hanson and Clarke swept up the podium spots. Fabrizio Von Nocher (KHS-Maxxis) was fourth, followed by Athlete Octane's Anthony Canevari in fifth.

"Coming down the hill it was full stick," Keough said of the slight descent before the final corner. "We had Karl [Menzies] on the front, and he's a machine coming downhill. We were all holding on for grim death. We came out of that last turn, and I laid off a little bit because I knew there was a little bit of chaos with Daniel [Holloway] there. I just took a run on him, and I looked at the line, put my head down and went."

Women: Two wins in two tries for Barnes

Barnes, the British national criterium champion, made her second win of the weekend look even easier than the first after another day of aggressive racing. The race heated up big time when organizers rang the bell on the ninth lap for a $1,000 prime that lit a fire under the already blistering pace.

US pro criterium champion Alison Powers snapped up the cool grand for her team before a breakaway of four, which included Rivera, set out for a short adventure. Joining the UHC speedster off the front were Anna Sanders (FCS-Zngine), Robin Farina (Pepper Palace) and Jessica Prinner (Colavita-Fine Cooking).

The quartet built a gap of 16 seconds before Vanderkitten, which had missed out on the move, zoomed to the front to pick up the chase. The team's Gillian Carleton, an Olympic track pursuiter, needed just one lap to drill the breakaway riders back into the fold.

Several more escape attempts went off the front with multiple riders, but the field wasn't in the mood to let anyone get much of an advantage, and the group headed into the final laps together. Pepper Palace moved up beside the UHC train at the front of the race and challenged their lead-out for several laps, but in the end they were no match for the blue-and-white UHC squad.

In the end, UnitedHealthcare grabbed three of the top four spots, with only Allar able to break the team's hold on the race with her third-place finish. Powers held on to take fourth, while Vanderkitten's Lizzie Williams was fifth.

Barnes said she was ready to go for the three-race sweep during Sunday's River Park criterium, but she'll be challenged by the day's main obstacle - the challenging climb up Cry Baby Hill.

"I don't know, it's hard," Barnes said. "We made it today. But we'll give it a go. We'll see how it goes, and hopefully the crowds will get me up that climb."

Results